Yesterday the Sun broke news that Democratic Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a weird habit of traveling from New York City to Albany by flying through D.C., racking up frequent flier miles for himself while costing taxpayers $500 to $760 for his round-trip airfare. Today the defunct paper takes a Parthian shot at the politician, interviewing watchdog groups who say Silver's costly (but legal) commute is proof that the state legislature needs to revise its......

State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver has a funny way of traveling between his Manhattan district and Albany: through D.C.! Instead of taking Amtrak or driving like other representatives, Silver prefers commuting by plane with a stopover 200 miles in the wrong direction. Depending on the length of the layover, the trip can end up taking four hours—not including the time it takes to get to the airport and pass through security. (A drive to Albany......

The Supreme Court ruled that Washington D.C.'s ban on handgun ownership is unconstitutional; per the Times; the five of the court's nine justices found "the Constitution protects an individual’s right to have a gun, not just the right of the states to maintain militias." ...

Congressman Vito Fossella made two public appearances last night, one at a Gracie Mansion dinner for the NY Congressional delegation and another at a Conservative Party dinner in Staten Island. Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro felt Fossella's appearance meant the embattled representative would run for re-election, "It makes me think that he's a candidate. Why else would he bother?" One Democrat who attended the dinner agreed and told the Daily News, "This is a......

After his DWI arrest led to admitting an affair and a 3-year-old love child in Virginia, Representative Vito Fossella returned to Staten Island to rampant speculation of his imminent resignation. Not only has the media predicted a resignation could come soon, the Advance reports House GOP leader Rep. John Boehner and Republican National Campaign Committee head Rep. Tom Cole have contacted Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan to see if he's interested in the seat.......

Even though Representative Vito Fossella is apologetic and looking for forgiveness, there are still questions about the woman who picked Fossella up from the Alexandria, VA jail. Laura Fay is described as a 45-year-old retired Air Force colonel, who is a single mother with a young daughter. Susan Del Percio, Fossella's newly hired consultant to deal with his DWI crisis, told Staten Island Advance the congressman and Fay became friends when she was a House......

Representative Vito Fossella, who was arrested for a DWI outside of DC on Thursday, said, "This was an error in judgment. This mistake will not happen again." The Republican congressman held a press conference yesterday, to face the media and apologize again for his arrest. While he did not go into the details of his arrest, the Alexandria, VA arrest warrant indicated his blood alcohol was 0.17--twice the legal limit--and the police charged him with......

Vito Fossella, the lone Republican Congressional representative from New York City, was arrested early yesterday morning for driving while impaired outside of Washington, D.C. Fossella, whose activities leading up to the arrest are not known (his day events included the NY Giants' visit to the White House), issued this statement:"Last night I made an error in judgment. As a parent, I know that taking even one drink of alcohol before getting behind the wheel of......

Photograph of Pope Benedict at Nationals Parks in Washington, DC by Gerald Herbert/AP Pope Benedict's trip the United States is already historic, but yesterday he did something that heightened the dramatic quotient of his journey: He privately met with five or six people who had been sexually abused by priests in the Boston area. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley also gave Pope Benedict a notebook with the names of almost 1,500 men and women, who......

Pope Benedict XVI arrives at JFK Airport tomorrow, and the city is ready. Police will be checking subway train cars through his three-day stay, as well as using mobile radiation detection units and hand-held sensors to examine cars. The Daily Intel asked Pastor Richard Baker, who directs the Cathedral of St. Patrick's Young Singers, for the advice he gave the children. For instance, one should address Pope Benedict "as 'Your Holiness.' Not 'Hey Pope' or......

A man and three women were arrested by the feds for overseeing an intercontinental prostitution ring catering to the upper crust of New York, Miami, LA, and Europe. The women pictured on the Emperor's Club V.I.P. web site, now taken down, had their faces blurred but featured body shots alongside a one to seven diamond ranking system. Chintzy customers willing to go low-end could get a three-diamond lady for $1,000 an hour; seven-diamond pros cost......

The NYC-DC bus fare wars have a new player: Greyhound division BoltBus will be launching service on March 27 and has started to sell tickets for as low as $1 (plus a 50 cent booking fee). DCist explains BoltBus "operates on the EasyJet principle, where tickets start out dirt cheap and get more expensive as the bus gets fuller. I just purchased a ticket for $7, and if I had been willing to leave on......

It all started with a NY Times reporter-blogger's ride on the DC Metro. The Times' Jennifer 8. Lee spied a poster in a Metro subway car, showing a rat along with the copy (emphasis is ours): "Unlike some subway systems (which will remain nameless), you don’t see rats the size of house cats roaming the Metro. Why not? Because we are so strict about eating and drinking in the system. So help us keep......

Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over......